Catrice - Forget-Me-Not

Purple packed with purple/pink shimmer 

I'm sharing these old swatches (2011!) because I'm wearing this polish today (Nov 2023) and because I miss blogging.  

I know nail blogging is pretty much dead and I'm not going to start a resurgence but I might share a few old swatches as I downsize my collection.

Nails Inc - Old Queen Street

White shimmer with gold flash

 Old Queen Street is a soft white shimmer with a gold flash

Swatch is 2 coats with no top coat

Nails Inc - The Boltons

Red gel-effect shimmer

The Boltons, here in Gel Effect, is a classic red shimmer

Application was good and these swatches are only one coat!

I wasn't familiar with The Boltons as a place in London so did a bit of googling.  It's in the Royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea and is one of the top 10 most expensive streets in Britain with an average home cost of £13million - eeek!

Nails Inc November - Burlington Arcade

Deep pink/red shimmer  

Burlington Arcade is a deep pinky red shimmer that definitely glows due to the fine purple and red micro shimmer.

It's not the most unique colour but application was good and these swatches are 2 coats, no top coat.

This is an old polish as you can see from the bottle - at least 2010, maybe older...

PostQuam - Intense Grass

Pine green shimmer 

Ah PostQuam, you and your slightly odd polish names, Intense Grass - really?!  Aside from the unintended drug reference, what on earth is intense grass?  It's certainly not this colour which is much more pine forest than grass!

Intense Grass is a deep pine green creme with fine green shimmer running through.  It's definitely not a secret-shimmer and in the sunlight looks very pretty.

Application was ok, bit on the gloopy side and swatches are 2 coats with no top coat.

Mavala - 135 Amber Drop

Copper shimmer  

 

Amber Drop is a gorgeous gold leaning metallic copper shimmer.  The colour and finish are very glowy and the shimmer almost seems suspended in the polish.  And somehow it doesn't look terrible with my cool-loving skintone!

Application was good, despite the size of the brush and the brush strokes aren't too bad.

And this was pretty much a one-coat wonder!  I did two coats for the swatches for completeness.

SpaRitual - Can You Dig It?

Brown/burgundy shimmer  

New month, new brand - my first SpaRitual

Can You Dig It? is a warm brown/burgundy shimmer with lots of fine gold shimmer within.

The base colour is an interesting shade, sometimes a warm brown, sometimes leaning more burgundy and even heading towards purple.  Almost duo-chrome although I'd hesitate to call it so.

Swatches are 2 coats with no top coat.  This isn't necessarily a colour I'd be drawn to but it does look good on.

SpaRitual is a brand I've been aware of for a long time, it used to pop up regularly in the 'olden days' of nail blogging, but was never very easy to get hold of in the UK and pretty expensive with it.

CYDI is a classic shade that's been around since 2008 at least.

This polish came to me through the wonders of TKMaxx, I'm so much more likely to take a punt on a polish where I don't have to pay postage and it's massively reduced from RRP - pretty sure this one was £3 or £4

Makeup Revolution - Take Me

Classic purple shimmer

Take Me is a classic purple shimmer, I do love this kind of colour.

Application was ok, a little gloopy and looking at the pics I should've done 3 coats rather than the two I did!

This is a swatch of a polish I've had a while and in fact Makeup Revolution don't seem to offer single nail polishes any more, which probably makes sense as they're doing very well with their eye, cheek and highlighter palettes and there's nothing special about this polish.

I've also tried some of the Nail Geek polishes from their sister line, I Heart Makeup, and wasn't impressed with those either.

But I do love their eye palettes - great quality for a bargain price!

Deborah - 110

Purple shimmer  

Apologies - this one is a bit blurry...

Deborah 110, despite the lack of name, is a stunning purple shimmer,

Application was a little tricky, the polish has an annoying fat brush and this did take 3 coats to cover fully.

Oh but so worth it, this is another polish that reminds me of my beloved L'Oreal Jet Set 225 which I really must swatch and share!

Kiko - Pearly Golden Sesame 479

Taupe packed with golden flaky shimmer  

You know those frustrating polishes where you fall in love with the gorgeous shimmer in the bottle but once you've applied it to your nails it's all but disappeared?

This isn't that polish!  If anything the shimmer is even more visible and packed in on the nail - what a refreshing surprise!

I picked up Pearly Golden Sesame in the Kiko store because it's a light taupe with golden flaky shimmer, what's not to like?   I was expecting a taupe with some gold shimmer, a bit like Leighton Denny Coconutty, but on the nail this almost looks more gold than taupe!

Pearly Golden Sesame is a light taupe packed with fine golden flaky shimmer, application was good and swatches are just 2 coats with no top coat.

Total win from me, I really like the taupe/gold combination and it's so pretty on the nail.  Thumbs up to Kiko

Nails Inc November - Arlington Street

Purple shimmer  

For the last day of a somewhat sporadic Nails Inc November I've chosen something with a hint of glitter.

Arlington Street is a gorgeous purple shimmer with lots of blue and pink micro-glitter.  In the bottle there's a hint of duo-chrome but as you can see nothing that shows in my pics!

Application was ok, swatches are 3 coats and I do still have a couple of baldish patches.

Again I think this might've been a QVC exclusive but from a bottle comparison it looks to be very similar, if not a dupe of, Franklin's Row.

Nails Inc November - Berkeley Mews

Navy Shimmer  

Berkeley Mews is a blackened slightly blurple navy shimmer that's wonderfully opaque.

Swatches shown are two coats you could probably get away with one if you were careful.  

Pretty sure this was a QVC special which they described as Navy Metallic but I think that's pushing it a bit!

Not a current colour but it pops up on ebay pretty often.

Nails Inc November - Brighton

Hot pink shimmer

Brighton is a slightly muted hot pink shimmer.  This is from the Colour & Care range which has vitamins A&E added - in case you needed that!

This one is definitely on the sheer side, swatches are 3 coats and I still have some VNL.

I think this shade is from 2009.

I have a few similar Nails Inc shades in my (extensive) collection so I did a quick comparison swatch.

Comparison l-r Brighton, Sloane Street, Montrose Place, Brighton

Sloane Street is a cooler pink, with a stronger shimmer and Montrose Place is also a cooler, deeper pink with a stronger, sparklier shimmer and only took 2 coats.

Nails Inc November - The Royal Mews

Taupe shimmer/frost

A rather belated start to Nails Inc November....

The Royal Mews is a vintage Nails Inc and I think is one of the shade names that they later reused for a completely different polish (ggrrgghh)

The Royal Mews is a cool toned taupe shimmer verging on a frost - check out those brushstrokes!

Swatches shown are 2 coats, no top coat.

I do love the colour, if not the finish.

Nubar - Reef Green

Bright green shimmer

Reef Green is a bright apple green pearl.

Application was good, although you have to take care with brushstrokes.  Swatches shown are 3 coats and there's still a little VNL in full sunlight.

This is certainly an unusual colour and not exactly one that suits my skintone but hey, it's fun!

Leighton Denny - It's an Honour

Cool taupe shimmer/pearl  

Free with this months issue (October - Michelle Dockery cover) of Harper's Bazaar is a choice of 6 shades of Leighton Denny polish.   Now the magazine isn't something I'd normally buy and it's a rather hefty tome with a price tag to match of £4.40.

But £4.40 for a choice from six full size Leighton Denny polishes?  That's my kind of deal.  I think this is the 4th year Harper's have done a LD covermount.

I picked up two copies earlier this week with Morning Dew, a cool green creme and It's an Honour, featured today.

 

It's an Honour is a taupe (my fave) but it's unusual shade of taupe, being very cool and quite light, almost like it's been mixed with silver.  And the finish is somewhere between shimmer and pearl to me.

Application was good, I do like the narrow LD brushes and swatches shown are 2 thick coats, if you stick to thin you'll need 3.

I really like this colour, very work appropriate but still interesting.

UK readers, have you availed of the freebie polish?!